


all things beautiful (belong to you)

by orbit1117



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Gen, Lore Exploration, halateez, i guess, kinda unhealthy group dynamic, might add tags as it goes, mostly character exploration, treasure-verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:19:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25961974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orbit1117/pseuds/orbit1117
Summary: A turn of the hourglass in your gloved hands, a much too familiar sight.The world warps in front of you, and everything changes.
Kudos: 4





	all things beautiful (belong to you)

The world changes and repeats, endless and pointless, making your head turn and your heart tired. All around you everything seems to shift as you walk across dimensions, colors and scents being warped into the unknown, and you’re never prepared for what is to come when you are but an helpless bug trying to fix a fate that seems as if carved into stones.

Dragging your foot helplessly as you attempt to figure out what changed this time, and what can be saved. It’s foreign, and strange, and scary, and you can’t recognize any of it but the unchanging patterns that bring you here. 

Like a maze of corridors whose wallpapers are replaced, the world is different but the familiar voices remain.

Beautiful voices for you to anchor yourself on, hands that you wish to hold, eyes you want to get lost in, a warmth you are always longing for. All these things don’t belong to you anymore, and you know you can never have them again, but the need doesn’t go away.

It all belongs to him, now.

And it scares you, more than anything, because you look at him and you can only see yourself in all your faults and weaknesses.

You look at him, and you can only see how frail you are, how fragile you’ve always been and will always remain. 

But you also see the greed, the  _ want _ that is a curse as much as it is a blessing, a driving force that will, eventually,  _ inevitably _ , get you so high above your crumbling world.

It’s always the same ones who fall first.

Kind, innocent Yeosang, whose pretty eyes seek for freedom and a dream to grasp for himself. His heart is pure, yet strong and sometimes harsh, always trying harder than everyone to reach his goals, always honest and clear in his intentions. He’s so beautiful, in both mind and body, you can’t help admiring his fall like you would of a romantic painting depicting the tragic death of two lovers. 

Even as he is himself capable of desire, one with such a pure heart couldn’t possibly handle being tainted with so much violence and cruelty... or so you have learnt with the time.

Pure hearts can’t be tainted without breaking, but they can be changed — warped until they’re not recognizable anymore, turned somber and destructive as one might have wished to be. When San smiles at you, low and dangerous, you feel a shiver run down your body, remembering a gentle kid of the countryside whose shadow is slowly disappearing under the burning sun of your own existence. 

You never asked him to change, but he knew he had to. And there’s nothing San can’t do, if it’s for his precious friends. Even for you. 

« Friends » is a word that is precious to Wooyoung. More precious than the treasure itself, more precious than his own ambitions you once thought were everything to him. Wooyoung who is bright, and fearless, but who can never stand on his own. His hands shake slightly as he holds Yeosang’s own trembling fingers, his eyes shutter when he can’t seek comfort in San’s anymore. Love has always been Wooyoung’s strength, and it’s when it fails that he does too.

But out of all of them, strength expresses itself the best in Jongho — both physically and mentally, he is simply  _ strong _ . His youth and kindness are nothing that can stop his burning passion, his need to prove himself to the world. 

Jongho is young, but he’s always known what he’s after, what it is exactly that he wants to obtain and what standards he gives to himself. And if reaching those standards mean burning yourself to the ground, running until your legs are in pieces, singing until you lose your voice as if desperate to be heard, then so be it. 

Slowly, the round and gentle eyes harden, and the pride you feel when he stares at you in defiance scares you. 

Jongho and Mingi are similar to you, in many ways. You’ve been thinking like this for a long time now, as you watch the both of them willingly diving towards their own demise for the sake of reaching unreachable goals, for the sake of showing themselves to the world. When Mingi’s body starts breaking, he doesn’t say it. He’s but an overgrown child, you know that, because you’ve seen the way he cries at night when he thinks nobody can hear it. But he’s smart, and proud, and he  _ wants more _ . When your eyes meet, there’s understanding and fascination for each other — both of you  _ know _ , and Mingi smirks contentedly when you praise him even as his legs give out under him.

Ambition and pride can only carry so much, after all.

You’ve learnt it well; as strong and you want to pretend you are, there are limits to what human beings can burden themselves with.

Despite this, Seonghwa always carries it all.

Not just his own, but everyone else, and more than everything, yours. 

Your anger, love, pain, fears and desires; those are all for Seonghwa to bear, willingly or not. 

You can’t remember if you’ve asked him if that’s what he wanted before, but it doesn’t seem to matter as Seonghwa always naturally grows into his role, as if he was born for nothing other than your own success — no matter which dimension you find yourself in. In some ways, you suspect he loves being used, loves knowing he’s gaining purpose in such insidious ways, because he’s too selfless and afraid to pursue his own dreams.

That’s why when he tries to hold you down, wrapping you in a weak embrace as he begs you to  _ stop _ , none of his words make sense to you. 

The worlds change and never resemble each other, but the burden that is « you » is always the cause of Seonghwa’s suffering.

And at the end of it all, just as it started, Yunho remains.

Yunho, who is bright and kind, and who everyone loves so naturally.

Yunho who has a sturdy but kind face, who makes you feel at home even without having to try — even as you’re not sure what home is anymore.

Yunho who cries at the loss but wipes his tears and still looks up at you with hopeful eyes, believing in you more ardently than anyone else does. 

Yunho, who calls you his treasure when all you can think is the road that still lies ahead before you find your own. 

Yunho who smiles at you in confusion, puppy-like eyes widening as he realizes you will finish this journey on your own.

For Yunho, it’s always been  _ our _ dream. To you, it’s always been  _ mine _ .

And ultimately, that’s all there is to it. Your dream, your treasure, your goal, and you. You, and him, who resembles you in every way but the context he was brought to, but the world he lives in.

And as you watch him lose them — as you watch yourself lose them, again and again, you clench your teeth under the mask and hope you’ll do better next time. 

You close your tired eyes in front of the repeated pain, and you turn the Cromer in your hands again.

_ Next time, I’ll find it. _

A turn of the hourglass in your gloved hands, a much too familiar sight.

_ A treasure that everyone can enjoy. _

The world warps in front of you, and everything changes.

Everything — but you.

**Author's Note:**

> hi hello this is very short i honestly can't get halateez hongjoong and ateezverse out of my head and i might be tempted to get into the details with additional chapters but i'll see  
> also this is heavily inspired by the lyrics and choreos of Desire+Precious, as well as the story book from the Diary ver. of Fever part1, so don't hesitate to check them out again if you want to get the vibe here


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